The Summer Olympic Games is the leading international sporting event in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. According to existing historical manuscripts, the first ancient Olympic Games were celebrated in 776 BC in Olympia. They were dedicated to the Greek god Zeus and took place in the same place every four years. This four year period became known as an “Olympiad” (International Olympic Committee, 2012). The first modern games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896 with nine sports contested. The 2016 games will consist of 28 sports. Although the actual event may last for only a few weeks, the preparations commence up to a decade beforehand and may entail considerable investment expenditures that can have longer term economic significance.
In 2016, the Olympics will be held in Rio De Janeiro. When choosing the next country to host the Olympics, Rio had one of the biggest advantages. The Olympic Games had never been held in South America. Additionally, the International Olympic Committee understood what the power of transformation of these games would mean to Rio, Brazil and South America. To the Olympic and Paralympic Movements, this decision represented the opening of a new and promising frontier, and the possibility of inspiring 65 million youths under 18 years of age in Brazil and 180 in the whole continent.
There are many advantages of hosting the Olympic Games. First, is that the games always attract trade and
It is evident that hosting the Olympics games is no walk in the park. The countries trusted with this task have to spend billions to make the games a reality. Some people believe that the countries, even after spending billions of dollars benefit from the games, while others believe that the money can be spent elsewhere more efficiently. To reach a conclusion, one must study all of the different impacts in all of the different sectors the games have.
The Olympics have shown over the decades that they can be affected by political conflict. However, it seems that this is the point of the Olympics, to illustrate national pride, by competition. Bloodshed should not be the way for pride of one’s country to be shown, but it should be shown through competition, in the words of the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de
There are quite a few factors that shaped the modern-day Olympics from 1892 to 2002. Pierre de Coubertin states that he wanted to create the Olympics to spread world peace. He does this by substituting war for friendly sports competitions (doc 1). Of course, there were some bumps in the road while trying to achieve this utopia. Some factors that have changed the Olympics are the allowing of women being able to compete in the Olympics, women’s suffrage, nationalism, wars, and economic conditions (doc 2-7).
Throughout the history of the Olympic games, there has been many changes on how the Olympic Games has come to be interpreted and how they are generally viewed in our modern era. These views range from, Nationalism fueled by the Olympic Games, Women trying to create equality through the Olympic Games, Economic supremacy shown by the Olympic games and the responsibilities held by countries and the self-preservation of a country when presenting the Olympic games. Each view states an interpretation of the Olympic games through the years of 1892-2002 showing a distinct view on the Olympic games depending on the times they were hosted at such as when the Olympic Games were hosted when women weren’t equal to men or who the Games were hosted
In document 5, Japan was in a struggle economically due to world war 2 which put Japan in a large set back. Since the olympic games bring all sorts of foreigners to the country, this helped Japan rebuild and rise to trading due to the money that the foreigners brought with them. Additionally, Japan did not want others to think that just after loss, that they should be seen with “defeated-enemy syndrome,” so they decided to host the olympics to show others that they are doing fine. In addition, in document 7, the author talks about how countries that sponsored the seoul olympics will hinder profits. Korea’s decision to not sponsor was a bad choice because they were giving up economic benefits. Since korea failed to advertise their industrial and economic power, the olympics were not able to help profit
There are many factors in every country that transform the impact of the Olympic Games, but in general, the economic costs outweigh the benefits, while the social impacts are mostly positive. As such, countries in general should not host the Olympic Games for their own national interest, but they should first understand the impacts of the Olympics in relation to their own country before making a final
The Olympic Games are recognized globally by billions of people. This event is the biggest sporting event not only because it comes once every four years, but also because the world’s best athletes come together to compete for world fame and glory. Hosting the games seems like an honor for most people, however there is numerous risks involved
Although the original ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 B.C, Homer’s Iliad indicates they may have existed as early as the twelfth century BC. The Games were then continued for twelve centuries and were devoted to Olympian deities. Olympia turned into the site of these memorable ancient Olympic games that scattered the seeds for the largest global sporting events of current times, the Modern Olympics. The location of the Ancient Olympics is situated in the western part of Peloponnese. The Ancient Olympic Games continued until 393 A.D when Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued them. There were not any more Olympic games for fifteen hundred years before they were resurrected in 1896 in the city of Athens. The man in charge of the recreation of the Olympic games was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who introduced the thought in 1894. He proposed to stage the games in Paris in 1900 but representatives, from thirty-four nations were so captivated with the idea that they persuaded him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the host.
"The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us,” said John Williams, the composer for theme music for the Olympics (8). The Olympic Games are international sports festivals that began in ancient Greece. The first ancient Olympics can be traced back to 776 BC when people held this religious festival to honour Zeus, the father of all the Greek gods and goddesses. The participants were male citizens from Greece, and these athletes participated in only one event — foot race. Unfortunately, this ancient Olympics did not last forever. The first olympic in 776 BC in Olympia was an significant event
While there are clear contrasts between the ancient and the modern Olympics there is still the respect for the athlete striving to perform at the highest level. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest carnival of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These important elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention, as the first Olympics was in 776 BC in Ancient Greece. After 1503 years, in 1896 the Olympic Games were recreated as what we know today. The Ancient Games were once dedicated to the Olympian God, Zeus Olympios and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia, which is also how the word ‘Olympics’ originated from. The modern Olympics is the largest international sporting event, which feature both summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of respectable athletes from over 200 different nations compete against one another. There are clear contrast between the modern and ancient forms of the Olympic Games regarding uniforms, participants, religion, events, politics and the concept of amateurism. However both the Ancient Greeks and the people in the modern world still respect and admire the athletics achievements of the participants making the Olympics the most highly regarded contest in sport.
Are the Olympic Games a waste of money? The Olympic Games are an international event where athletes from every country come together to compete. Many fans and spectators attend this event to cheer for their country. The number of spectators keeps on increasing every four years as the event gets more popular. As this is an international event the cost of hosting it is huge. The total output of the 1976 Montreal Games was $1.48 billion whilst the 2012 London Games was a total of $14.6 billion. Stadiums are built for different disciplines, national representatives are invited to perform in the opening and closing ceremony, as a result the stadiums need a high level of security. Where the hosting country receives the money from, whom it will benefit and what it does to the country, will be the three main points I will be covering in this essay.
Countries utilize both the vast market and the attractiveness to increase ticket sales, sales in merchandise and tourism in their country. For the 2012 Olympic in London, it was estimated that 471,000 people visited from overseas primarily for the Olympic/Paralympics. ("Visits to the UK for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics - ONS", 2013, p. xx-xx) Not only does the country benefit from the ticket sales, but other businesses in the city (Hotels, restaurants, attractions, etc.) will flourish in business due to all the international trades that are occurring. The Olympic also provide jobs since the preparation, and the execution of the event requires a large staff as well as people with different skills. (Performers, construction workers, marketers, designers, etc.) Thanks to the Olympics, the United Kingdom saw a boost of £9.9 Billion ($17,805,486,600 CAD) in trades and investments. ("London 2012 Olympics 'have boosted UK economy by £9.9bn'", 2013) Hosting the Olympics can also make a psychological impact. With the great success Japan had in hosting the 1964 Olympics, (the first Asia Olympics as well as a method of being reaccepted by the rest of the world after World War Two), news that Japan will be hosting the Olympics 2020 significantly brought their citizen’s morale up after being hit with
The Olympic Games are a set of friendly competitions that bring countries from all around the world together, but many social, political, and economic problems in the past and present including racial and sexual discrimination and apartheid have prevented the Olympic Games from fulfilling their promise to bring countries together.
Higham (1999) discusses that there are numerous problems, which will be evaluated with hosting an Olympic games such as, development issues, local resident issues, short-term affects, and security issues. In terms of development issues, there is a significant cost dealing with large scale sporting events, and economic benefits are generally received more by big time business interests not the host community. So the host community doesn’t benefit as much as they potentially could by hosting the
First of all, the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit.